Thursday, October 2, 2008

Burn After Reading?

I saw a wallet on a bench yesterday as I was walking from the coffee shop to my car. It was a thick brown leather wallet filled with credit cards and $50 cash. To say the thought of pocketing the cash and leaving the wallet didn't enter my mind would be a lie. So, here is my opportunity...be selfish or selfless. Now that I think about it, earlier that morning, I spent some time reviewing last Sunday's sermon which was pulled from Joshua 24: 14-18.
Verse 15 states "...And if it is undesirable (evil in your eyes ESV version) for you to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
It was all coming together for me on Sunday in this way; we all have to serve someone or something, and we WILL choose regardless if we believe we have to serve or not.
So, back to this opportunity. At that moment I had to choose to serve something regardless if I wanted to or not. Would I serve my own sinful nature, or allow God to work through that nature and allow me to serve him and ultimately glorify him with return of the wallet? I did the right thing and found the owner, he actually served my coffee that morning.
It astounds me the way God works. I cannot attribute this situation to simple coincidence. This was a real life application of the service we all have to choose regardless if we admit to it or not. And I know it goes deeper than just a wallet on a bench.

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